Volume 5 - CH 3.4

“Please come this way,” the soldier started walking, so Reito and Mina followed him.

The soldier walked to a room in the basement.

“All the competitors wait in this room. It’s not separated by gender, so please use the changing room as needed. As a general rule, we keep hold of the weapons you bring, but for participants with a storage stone, you are welcome to keep it in another dimension. However, using the storage stone during the battle to pull out weapons or other tools will result in disqualification.”

“I can’t use my storage stone… Okay, what about storage magic?”

The soldier looked confused by Reito’s question.

Only people in the unprestigious job of Support Magician could use storage magic.

Knowing Reito’s occupation, he responded condescendingly, “…there’s never been a participant who could use storage magic in the competition, but given that it is used the same as a storage stone, I would have to assume it’s not permitted. The moment you take something out from another dimension, you’re disqualified.”

“I see… You can’t take anything out from another dimension.”

“Yes, well, I believe so.”

“Understood. Thank you very much.”

Reito chuckled to himself on the inside.

On the other hand, Mina was nervously clutching her spear.

“Oh, um… Could I have him store my spear with his storage magic?”

“No worries… Are you sure you are going to compete with him? He’s a support magician.”

The soldier said, puzzled. Reito glared at him.

“What’s wrong with support magicians? Is it against the rules or something?”

“N-, Not at all… My apologies.”

The soldier went pale and averted his glance from Reito. Reito didn’t feel like he was making a particularly intimidating facial expression, so he was surprised at the soldier’s reaction.

“In-, In that case please step inside. The other competitors are waiting, so watch out. There are often fights between participants before the actual battle.”

“Thank you.”

“Ooh… I’m nervous.”

The two of them were surprised at the size of the room they walked into. There weren’t just seats to sit down and wait, but there were also training tools and battle weapons lined up on the walls. There were also soldiers selling recovery medicines and a middle-aged healing specialist dressed in white on the side.

Reito and Mina sat down on one of the countless benches. Roughly 10 participants were sitting on one. They were all in pairs as they were here for the tag team battle. A soldier would come to call in participants when the time came, allegedly, so they had to just wait and calm their nerves in the meantime.

“Alright… let’s give it our all, Reito-kun!!”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Reito was calm compared to Mina who seemed nervous. He was bored, so he decided to look around the waiting room until the battle started.

He quietly walked to the stall to check things out.

“What are you selling here?”

“Welcome, we sell magic tools that are allowed in battle here. We have recovery medicine, but it’s weaker than normal recovery medicine, so watch out.”

Reito looked at the goods up for sale and frowned. They were all poor quality and seemed unusable. He looked at the recovery medicine with his Observing Eye and discovered it was literally watered down. You could expect much from it.

Reito talked to a woman in a robe.

“And what’s your name, lady?”

“Thank you for calling me a lady. I’m just a recovery specialist. If someone comes here with an injury before the battle starts, I heal them for a fee.

The soldier told Reito, “she always does business next to my stand. She doesn’t have a hospital that she works at, so she makes money anywhere she can.”

“Really? You’re not a full-time employee?”

“Yeah, that’s right. If you get injured, I’ll heal you at a discount price.

Reito bowed his head and left. He took a look at the weapons on the wall.

“Mina, come here. You should choose what you’ll use in battle.”

“Th-, That’s right… I wonder which one I should choose.”

Mina quickly got up and the two of them looked at the countless number of weapons lined up. There were two soldiers carrying parchments who noticed the two of them and came over.

“Is this your first time? Shall I explain how to borrow the weapons?”

“Ah, yes please.”

“Please look here. These are weapons that you can borrow for free.”

They pointed to weapons in the corner of the wall.

They all appeared to be of poor quality. There were bent swords, spears with cracks in the handle – and those were the better ones. Some of them had barely any handle at all.

“…I definitely don’t want to use those.”

“These ones are for competitors who just paid the participation fee. However, for an extra charge, we offer high-quality weapons as well.”

“Where are those?”

“Right this way,” the soldier pointed at a door in the corner of the waiting room and guided the two of them there.

The door connected to a weapons cellar of sorts, and it opened to weapons of far higher quality than the ones previously seen.

“These are… way different.”

“Th-, That’s true.”

Just looking at them, you knew they were top tier weapons, and they were likely better quality than those sold above ground.

“These are all weapons crafted by dwarves. They are made from Mithril and Golden Flame.”

“Ah, like what I gave to Gon-chan.”

Reito spotted a longsword shining rainbow and tried picking it up. It was lighter than he expected.

Next to that was a spear made of Mithril. Mina gave it a test by spinning it around.

“This isn’t my spear so it feels a little weird… But, it shouldn’t give me any trouble.”

The two soldiers said, “In the event you use these weapons during battle, you will be charged the price listed on the weapon after the battle. Is that alright?”

“The price is engraved on it!?”

“Oh, it’s true!?”

On the Golden Flame longsword Reito had in his hand, it said “three silver coins” and the Mithril spear said “five silver coins.” The higher the functionality, the higher the cost.

“By the way, in the event you damage the equipment, you will be charged a repair cost.”

“How much money do you plan to take from us… what about with the weapons in the waiting room?”

“No. We don’t charge a repair fee even if they are damaged. Most adventurers choose a product from this room.”

“You just said product…”

“But, the quality is good…”

Reito was a little surprised, but Mina had already made up her mind. She clutched the spear and said, “I’m going with this one.”

“Understood. Please write the product number and your name here. The number is written on the side of the price.”

“There’s a product number…”

The soldier held out the parchment to be signed.

The two of them looked at Reito who put his Golden Flame longsword back in place and shook his head silently.

“I’m good… I don’t have much money, and I’ll just be covering from the back anyway.”

“Covering…? Magicians aren’t allowed to bring in any wands. Do you have anything on you?”

“Reito used his storage magic to pull out a magic ring that would amplify his magic capabilities. It was a present that he got from Maria after he came back from the Forest of the Abyss.

“Um, well… Yes, magic rings are allowed. But, you are not allowed to swap out the embedded magic stone part way through the battle, so keep that in mind.”

“Well, I only have two on, so, I’m okay.”

The magic ring had a crystal he got from Kotomin and the Tree Stone he got from the druid in it. They would strengthen his water and earth property magic but wouldn’t work on all single shot magic like a normal magic stone.

Reito and Mina sat on a bench after returning to the waiting room from the weapons cellar. They waited for their number to be called. The line had moved while they were checking out the weapons cellar. People kept coming in and out.

“Alright, the weapons are in place… now we just have to wait until it’s our turn. Oh, that’s right!! I’m going to be relying on you in battle anyway, tell me your special magic tricks and special skills now.”

“My special skills are having fun with slimes and going for walks.”

“Um, I don’t know if that’s a skill…”

“Jokes aside… I’m just a support magician, so I can only use auxiliary magic. And, beginner magic.”

“What!? But, you used awesome magic in the last fight.”

Mina was probably talking about the beginner magic he used during the fight on the wall.

He didn’t know how to explain himself to Mina. Perhaps if he explained that he simply maxed out his beginner magic and combined a variety of magic to create new combos, should we be convinced.

But, Airis told Reito not to show off his talents. Even if it was a trustworthy friend, he didn’t want to show any of his skills off to anyone he didn’t know that well.

『If someone notices that your magic is just beginner magic, tons of people will imitate it. So, I wouldn’t go around using it recklessly. It’ll mean big trouble if people know your battle style.』

『Okay.』—This dialogue is from when Reito was 8 years old.—

The conversation is still burnt into his brain.

Reito understood that Airis was right, but if he was going to fight with her, he figured it would be better to share some information.

Reito shared information that would be okay even if other people knew it.

“Well… I use recovery boost, physical reinforcement, and magic reinforcement… I just have them at a maxed-out skill level. I also have storage magic and beginner’s magic…”

“Wow!! That’s cool that you maxed out your skill level!”

“Well, I am a magician so it’s easy for me to max out my magic. I also have a few alchemy skills.”

“Wow… you use that kind of weird magic?”

“Hey, watch out now, I’ll turn your clothes into bikini armor!!”

“Eek!? S-, Sorry!! I didn’t mean to insult you, but anything but bikini armor!!” She apologized after the threat.

But, Mina wasn’t able to hold back her surprise. She had seen Reito’s battle skills and assumed he was a swordsman or a knight. But, both of Reito’s abilities showed that he was part of an unprestigious occupation. His strength came from training since he was a toddler and from Airis’s advice. She helped him learn a lot of skills, and if it weren’t for that, he might have been killed by Aria by his tenth birthday had he lived a normal life.

Reito got back to the conversation.

“Anyway, I’ll support you from the rear. If you have trouble, let me know. You can do it!”

“Um, yes… That sounds right for a support magician.”

“Hey, from what I’ve heard a while ago, you seem to have made a bad choice in choosing your partner, princess.”

A middle-aged beastman sleeping next to them on the bench they were sitting woke up and pulled out a cigar before talking to Mina.

Reito looked at the cigar and looked at the poster on the wall that said “No Smoking.”

“Princess, I’m not gonna say anything, but I would quit now. He is a loser, you know his job.”

“Um…”

“You got that? You have to choose a partner who is stronger than you. Teamwork is the key in tag team battles. Only the strongest survive. Do you really want this loser as your partner?”

“Excuse me, but you’re not allowed to smoke here.

Reito pointed at the poster to the old man who spoke so condescendingly of him.

The man stared at Reito, despising his occupation. He ignored Reito and struck a match.

“Don’t get in the way of the adults’ conversation, little boy… You’ve got an attitude, but that’s about all.”

“In that case, let me give you some advice. If you’re a top-tier adventurer, don’t go around smoking cigars. It’s bad for you… Of course, that’s just advice from a guildmaster I heard.”